Part number help

[justjunque]

Hi all.

You've helped me with this very thing before. But, I apologize, I've misplaced the information.
I have an Amana washer, built by Raytheon.
Model No. ALW432RAW
Serial No. 11395196AP

It's still running, and doing our weekly laundry. But, the infamous seal/bearing issue is there. It develops a new noise every so often. I haven't seen any water leakage yet.
I believe someone here, as well as the most recent tech who came to the house, said that it's the series 11 that's the problem. If it was an earlier series or later, they could get parts for it.
Would someone be able to provide me with the part number/numbers for the unobtainium parts?
I just like to keep that information on hand, in the unlikely event that something turns up on eBay or something.
Thank you so much.

Barry

 

[repairguy]

Are you sure this was built by Raytheon? Amana was purchased by Maytag in 2001 and yours appears to have been built in August 2002.

 

[combo52]

It has a Maytag serial number so I would not call it a Raytheon

It should be easy to look up

John L

 

[justjunque]

Huh.
That's interesting. I was certain I got the information about the manufacturer from fellow members here.
It basically looks like the Speed Queen from the same era, and I was told that they were both built by Raytheon at the time.
I guess the serial number doesn't lie though.

 

[hvtech42]

This machine was built relatively shortly after Maytag bought Amana. But it is a model that was being made before the sale, so I'd expect any changes from before Maytag to be relatively small, and certainly the whole "Amanatag" revamp hadn't happened yet.

I've linked the parts list for your washer. The hub and seal kit would be part# R9900457 - officially NLA, but findable online and the bearing would be part# 40004201P, still available. Both part numbers appear unchanged from the initial release of the washer.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/sm-backend-production-attachments/parts-list-ALW432RAW.pdf

 

[justjunque]

hvtech,

Thank you for the link!
I do have one concern. On that parts list, that hub and seal is shown for series 10.
I'm told that the problem with my washer is that it's a series 11. Apparently, something must have changed from one series to the next. At least, that's what I've been led to believe.
If I've been wrong all this time, that would actually be great! I'd love to think that it's possible the parts might, in fact, be available to prolong the life of this machine.

 

[hvtech42]

Don't worry, that's normal. The way Maytag parts lists work is that the listed series includes all the series after that, unless otherwise listed. So if your series number is not listed, you find the highest listed series number below it, which for this part is series 10.

There have been Maytag products where the series number has gone into the 80s, they aren't going to list each one separately. You'll also notice in that listed how many parts jump from series 10 or 11 right to series 15 with nothing in between. Series 15 is apparently when they introduced the redesigned the seal, since that one uses the newer triple lip seal and bearing kit.

 

[hvtech42]

Also I will warn you, this is not an easy repair. If you're going to DIY this, expect it to be a major project. If you hire a tech, it is going to be many hours of labor and an expensive job. Most techs would recommend against this repair on a machine of this age, though it sounds like it's worth it to you personally to fix.

 

[justjunque]

Thank you again. Good to know.
I generally don't even DIY easy jobs. This would be left to a professional. I have no mechanical ability whatsoever.
There are probably better washers out there. But, this one is in great shape otherwise, it's always done a good job for us, we're really not interested in anything new, etc.
Provided we could find the parts, and a tech who's willing to do it, I think we'd be happy to have this one fixed.
This was an educational thread for me! I even learned that our washer isn't a Raytheon built machine, like I've mistakenly believed for years!
Thanks again!

 

[ryner1988]

Definitely try to fix your washer if you can unless...

You can afford a Speed Queen TC5 top load washer, a Speed Queen FF7 front load washer, or an LG front load washer with turbo wash. Those are all three decent to very good machines but they are pricy, i.e., you get what you pay for, which is why I still have a Whirlpool direct drive from 2005. I can't afford to shell out the cash to buy something new that also isn't complete shite.

I can pretty much always afford the $500 bottom of the barrel tin-can washer if I needed to, but for that price or lower, I'd rather someone come out and put new components in my DD and keep it going for another several years, then finally buy a really good modern washer when I can afford to do it. It seems that you are much the same way, so I hope you can get your machine fixed.

 

[hvtech42]

I would classify this machine as "Goodman-era" Amana washer. It is significantly redesigned under the hood from the Raytheon era machines, although cosmetically similar. Goodman was required to do this because they no longer owned the manufacturing plant or rights for the previous generation washers - those went to Alliance Laundry Systems. I believe this will have a plastic outer tub instead of porcelain like the Raytheon Amanas and current Speed Queens.

Maytag would go on to make many further changes from the Goodman design, both under the hood as well as cosmetic, though this had not happened yet with your machine.

 

[justjunque]

You are correct. The outer tub is plastic.
I see seal/hub parts kits readily available on eBay, ranging from just under $140 to just under $200.
There's a lock nut or something, that's shown in the exploded view, but is not included in the kit, for some reason.
Using the part number, I was able to find that on eBay too. I'm not sure why it's not included in the kit.
I haven't purchased anything yet, and eBay is just the first place I looked. Is there another site that anyone would recommend instead, that you know has good service, decent prices, and quality parts?

 

[combo52]

Replacing main seal in bearing on an Amana tag

Hi Barry the first thing you need to do is find somebody willing to do this very difficult repair before you consider spending any money on parts.

In our service area I don’t know of anybody including ourselves that would even attempt this repair on this washer at this age unless you want to spend some serious money.

While it’s been a good performing machine for you all good things come to an end, and you can still buy essentially the same machine with a TC five from Speed Queen if you really want another conventional washer.

John L

 

[justjunque]

Thanks again, everyone.
We'll see if we can find someone willing to do the job, and see if we can get a ballpark estimate for the labor.
I don't think we're really in a position to buy a good, brand new washer. So, if the cost to repair the Amana would be in the neighborhood of the cost of a new Speed Queen or something, that wouldn't really be doable either.
That would bring me back to my previous plan of looking at the used appliance stores for a clean, older Whirlpool/Kenmore with the features that I like.
Side note:
I watched Lorain Furniture's video comparison of the TC5 with the Maytag Commercial.
The Maytag (at the time of the video) was around a few hundred $ less expensive, and offered some features that the SQ doesn't. That might be something to consider as well.